Concordance in nutritional diagnosis between the healthcare and school teachers teams, using the body mass index (BMI) in the borough of Colina

Abstract

Introduction: JUNAEB evaluates the nutritional state of schoolchildren using measurements of weight and height obtained by schoolteachers in the state schools.

Objective: to compare the nutritional state using the BMI measured at school against that measured by the health team.

Hypothesis: that the measurements taken by both teams are the same, with a kappa index of > 0,8.

Methods: the concordance between both groups was analysed from the measurements taken from pupils of the 1st grade in 9 schools in the borough of Colina, involving 416 pupils.

Results: Prevalence of overweight or obesity measured by schoolteachers was 38% and by health team 29% (p < 0,05); underweight 4,4% vs 5,8% respectively (NS). The concordance of the diagnoses was Kappa = 0.56.

Conclusions: there was a low concordance in the diagnosis of nutritional state between healthcare and scoolteacher teams, making it indispensable to review the nutritional state evaluation process.